The beautiful small-scale fishery in Hastings was the first fishery with which Fishes entered into an exclusive partnership, in 2007. Hastings is a small town on the south coast of England, which many may associate with the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. Years ago, the inhabitants of London often came down to spend a weekend on the beach or to enjoy the splendid pier. But when the low-cost airlines arrived on the scene, and people increasingly opted for beaches in Thailand instead, Hastings began to deteriorate.
The fishermen of Hastings pull their wooden ships, which measure no more than 10 metres, on to the beach every day. Even before 1900, work was undertaken to build a harbour, but this was never completed for lack of money. All that remains of these efforts is a small concrete dam that juts into the sea, right next to the beach. Every day, sports fishermen are perched on the dam, hoping to catch a handsome fish. All the coloured and generally wooden boats lie side by side on the pebbly beach and, weather permitting, put out to sea at daybreak. The nets that were set up the day before are collected again, a few miles off the coast. The sole are carefully taken from the nets one by one, and the nets are set up again for the following day. Sole only swims when it's dark, so it can only be caught using this fishing gear at night.
The Hastings sole fishery has been MSC certified since 2005. The fishermen do everything themselves: the fishing, the sorting of the different fish sizes, and the packaging. Fish just doesn't get any fresher than this, except if you were to join the fishermen on board for a day. It's not without reason that, a few years ago, the British Prime Minister described the Hastings fishery as “the perfect fishery”, and an example to the world. As one of the few certified fisheries worldwide, these fishermen virtually didn't need to change a thing in order to receive the coveted eco-hallmark.
By Bart van Olphen
In March 2008, while out on the waters of the North Sea Channel, I talk to Graham Coglan, fisherman from Hastings on the RX60 Alfie Elliot.
Bart: “Your boats are parked on the beach. How do you put out to sea?”
Graham: “We leave just as soon as the tide permits. But there shouldn't be too much of a wind blowing inland, because then our little engines won't get us away from shore. We have an ancient pushing machine to slide us off the pebbly beach into the sea. We use wooden blocks to build a kind of rail that the boat can slide across. Then we use the GPS to determine the location where we set up the nets the day before, usually between 5 and 30 miles from shore. Big black flags help us pinpoint the exact location.”
Bart: “And then? How does the actual fishing take place?”
Graham: “We pull the nets up along the side of the boat. As soon as we spot a fish, we get down on our knees to remove it from the net. Sometimes that's done more easily than other times. The fish is directly cleaned of its innards on board and stored in ice to guarantee optimum freshness. When we've pulled up a net in its entirety, we put it back in place for the next catch. And we do that for some 6 to 12 nets each day.”
Bart: “Do you get big differences in terms of catch?”
Graham: “Oh sure…. There are days that you bring in plenty, but it happens often that we come back with just half a crate, which is less than 5 kilos of fish. Everything depends on the circumstances. Too much wind won't let us put out, but too little water flow means the fish won't move around and thus not encounter our nets. It's always a surprise what will happen.”
Bart: “How do you eat sole at home?”
Graham: “We are true Englishman, but the influence of French cuisine is considerable. Nothing beats a ‘Sole Meunière’, with lots of butter and a generous splash of white wine.”
De Volkskrant, 2008
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